LIVE (through) the 1990s

LIVE (through) the 1990s – an education platform on the 1990s
in Lviv stemming from the project of the Center for Urban History Lviv Interactive. It is created on the
basis of the photo exhibition by Tadeusz Rölke "Tomorrow
Will Be Better" exhibited
in the Center for Urban History in 2016-2017. It is a product of the year-long work to collect and
process data, to generate information and entertaining content (within the program "Far
- Near History")

The website developers invite users to "play" a game of history, to compose and decompose the storylines, to build the links, to trace how all the details interact with the
text-book version of history, if they do, and to expand to broader topics. The
timeline of the research includes the period of 1986-1996.

It is the story you would not find in the text-books. It is vibrant and relevant, contrasting and clumsy, absurd and truthful. You will not
find here any lists of dates, dry facts, global events, or stories of great
personalities. Instead, you will get to see a mosaic of individual stories, memories and themes illustrating the
transformation period of the late 20th century in details, such as
everyday things, practices, events, and stories.

Mission
"More
Exciting Than the Text-Book" – we would
like to bring the history closer, to give a human face to dry text-book facts, and to show that history is not only
about black and white, but about a variety of stories and events. We do believe
that history, the same as any other disciplines, could be learned through play.

Goal
Lack of goods, long waiting lines, shopping strollers, first banks, Chervona Ruta festival, yobbos, coupons, chocolate stock market, stone-washed denim, А Territory, walkouts... What do all of these notions have in
common? What are they associated with? How is the history of the shift period
of the 1990s perceived by those born in the 2000s? Do they think of the events
from the stories their parents told them, or of a chapter in a textbook? How do
we combine the two things into one, and make this period closer and more
engaging for children and teenagers?

The authors of the resource had these ideas inspired by the exhibition of Tadeusz Rölke’s photographs "Tomorrow
Will Be Better" presented in the
Center for Urban History since August 2016.

The designers of the education platform are students of the first years of studies who can
still remember how the recent history of Ukraine was taught to them at school.
They have ideas, therefore, how to make it more interesting and substantial
while going beyond the great events or "great people."

With this project, we intend to show the stories of people, co-participants and co-authors of those events, to
render their attitudes and expectations. We plan to search for ways how to get
from the level of political history down to the history of everyday life, to "humanize" the events, and to include personal stories into the
general narrative. We mean to make dry textbook facts vibrant and game-like,
but at the same time useful and educational for the website users.

Who
The platform is designed for children, school pupils, high school students, teachers, and students. However,
the resource will be interesting to anyone else, especially if they used to be the
eye-witnesses of the 1990s developments. We hope the approach would stimulate
discussions and help discover the 1990s also on the level of private history of
one’s own family.

Education
Resource "LIVE (through) the 1990s"

The resource consists of four sections: a dictionary of terms and concepts (What is What), a collection of games and tests (Games), a virtual map (Place) and study
materials (for teachers
and pupils). All chapters are linked to each other and include
tags and hyperlinks.

"What is What." A dictionary of terms and concepts of the 1990s "from A to Z."
It includes the "textbook" terms, titles of chapters or items of independent external tests presented through little things, details, stories, and
memories of real people. The dictionary contains images, video materials,
quotes from memories and some useful links.

"Games." Series of games and tests.
After taking a test or a game, you can check the information or learn more in the Sections "Places," "What is What," and "Materials".

"Spaces." A virtual trip around the 1990s Lviv.
Places marked on the map show phenomena, events, and people you could use to trace transformations and changes taking place in the
city. The map has a filtering function. It can help you not to get lost amidst
the array of places. Most objects are linked to Lviv Interactive project of the Center for Urban History. There,
you can find more details about the place and the pertaining materials from the
Media Archive.

"Materials." Navigation and texts for teachers and pupils.
Here, you can find help and suggestions on how to use the resource information in the learning process, links to useful materials, and data base used for the resource. The section is peculiar in a sense that teachers could use it in the training process, while pupils could rely on it preparing for the
module or the external tests.

Developers:
Team of students of the first years of studies ready to inspire and convince you that history could be exciting:
Yaroslava-Anastasiya Tsetnar, Kateryna Kosiv, Roman Kobryn, Olena Polishchuk, Valentyn Hutsal, Mariya Kozak,
Sofiya Strilets, Danylo Yankovskyi, Yulia Kishchuk, Olia Dobrovolska.